FOCUS
ON THE PHILIPPINESAN ELECTRONIC
NEWSLETTER
(FOCUSING MAINLY ON PHILIPPINE NEWS AND ISSUES)
OF
FOCUS ON THE GLOBAL SOUTH

ISSUE # 30 DECEMBER 21, 2002

IMMEDIATELY AFTER SEPTEMBER 11,
PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO WAS ONE OF THE FIRST
WORLD LEADERS TO COME OUT IN FULL SUPPORT OF THE BUSH
ADMINISTRATION AND HIS WAR AGAINST TERRORISM, EVEN
OFFERING PHILIPPINE TROOPS FOR COMBAT IN AFGHANISTAN.
AFTER ALL THESE EFFORTS BY THE ARROYO ADMINISTRATION
THOUGH, WASHINGTON DOES NOT SEEM TO BE INTENT ON RETURNING
THE FAVOR.

With Friends Like These, Who Needs
Enemies?

By Mary Louise Malig

IMMEDIATELY after September 11, President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo was one of the first world leaders to
come out in full support of the Bush administration and
his War Against Terrorism, even offering Philippine troops
for combat in Afghanistan.

This of course placed her on the
official buddy list of Washington alongside British Prime
Minister Tony Blair. Taking advantage of Arroyo's support,
President George Bush Jr. sent a team of US advisers to
the southern part of the Philippines to help in the
Philippine government's losing battle against the Abu
Sayaff: a group founded in the early 1990šs by young
Islamists outside of the two major Muslim separatist
groups in the country, but have resorted to kidnappings
for ransom, causing people to doubt their Islamic
rhetoric. This closeness with the US also warded off any
would be plotters of the opposition, which prior to
September 11 were taking advantage of the instability of
the Arroyo government and the general dissatisfaction with
her government confirmed in the national polls.

But the icing on the cake would come in
the form of aid packages from Washington. Confirmed with
President Arroyo triumphantly announcing that "It's $4.6
billion and counting"; covering PL-480 food aid,
agricultural export guarantees, poverty alleviation
support, investment guarantees, a debt-for-nature swap and
$2.6 billion in promised investments from US corporations.

Sufficiently convinced of their
friendship, President Arroyo then gave her best buddy the
country's sovereignty by agreeing to the Philippines being
the second front of the war.

THE SECOND FRONT AND OTHER FAVORS

Frustrated with its war in Afghanistan
with Osama Bin Laden managing to slip through, the Bush
Administration launched into the second front of the war,
where it believed it would claim an easier and clearer
victory. However entering and intervening in the
Philippine government's war against the Abu Sayaff
breached the Philippine constitution, so American troops
came in under the guise of training exercises dubbed
Balikatan or shoulder to shoulder.

Taking people by surprise, the
government quickly moved to quell any sort of dissent by
using Washington's line of you're either with us or
against us. In this case, you were either with the
government or with the Abu Sayaff. After much hoopla
though, at the end of the exercises, the US had yet once
again failed in its attempt to achieve a clear cut victory
against terrorism. True, some of their major leaders had
been allegedly killed, the Abu Sayaff were still at large
and only one hostage was rescued with the other two being
killed in an encounter between the Abu Sayaff and the
military.

Despite this dismal attempt at making
the Philippines a safer place, President Arroyo announced
that there would be even more training exercises in other
parts of the Philippines. And as if to assure Washington
that they were indeed welcome, the Arroyo administration
went behind the country's back and inked the controversial
Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA).

The Agreement, in a nutshell, would
allow the US to use military facilities in the Philippines
any time they want. It would allow the US to use the
country as a supply center for military operations,
including the current anti-terror military campaign, but
with qualifications that it would supposedly only be for
supplies such as ammunition, food, water, fuel and nothing
under major armaments.

I SCRATCH YOUR BACK!

After all these efforts by the Arroyo
administration though, Washington does not seem to be
intent on returning the favor.

First, the much flaunted aid packages
had been vetoed. A few months after the Balikatan
exercises were completed, Bush vetoed in part the
originally promised military assistance approved by the US
Congress by cutting out 30 million dollars. Covering up
for an erring friend, President Arroyo was quick to
justify this as a problem of the US with "budget deficit
problems".

Second was the discovery that the
military aid came with more strings than expected.
Suddenly, for example, it was announced that more funding
would come in trickles if the MLSA was not immediately
signed.

The latest blow though would come in
the form of exclusion. The US excluded the Philippines
from its new 7.9 billion dollar anti-poverty aid program
for developing countries, stating that the country did not
meet the required poverty threshold of $1,435 per capita.
In other words, Washington's best buddy was not destitute
enough to be a recipient of its aid.

As things look, Washington seems to
have gotten everything it needed for the moment from the
country and it is now leaving the Arroyo administration
high and dry.

NO SYMPATHY

Arroyo though can hardly expect any
sympathy from her constituents as the country has yet to
see the economic recovery the President and her economists
had predicted but instead has had to suffer a seemingly
endless crisis with the unemployment rate rising to an
alarming 10.2% from 9.8% the previous year. That literally
translates to more than three million Filipinos out in the
streets with no work.

And in the latest Social Weather Survey
poll, results show gross dissatisfaction with her at 38%,
just a notch higher than her lowest level rating.

The usual issues covered by the survey
ranged from corruption, the plunder case of Estrada all
the way to mass deportation of Filipinos from Sabah.
Ironically, the one stark issue that swung the
dissatisfaction factor was the President's score card with
terrorism, both locally and globally.

The slew of local bombings in the
recent months have left people shaken and extremely
dissatisfied with the President, but more importantly, the
anxiety with regard to terrorism stems from the way the
Arroyo administration has been perceived as supporting the
US war against Iraq. Despite Arroyo's anti-terrorist and
strong state rhetoric, an overwhelming 70% of Filipinos
think that the Philippines should in fact be neutral in
the eventuality of a war between the US and Iraq and a
minimal 5% agree that the country should support the US in
a unilateral war.

Sentiments evidently reflect the
peoplešs belief that the President does not have the
interest of her fellow countrymen. In fact they doubt if
she would be able to take care of them both here and
abroad. A constant question raised in debates on the
looming US-Iraq war has in fact been whether the current
government can ensure the safety of the country's millions
of overseas workers, most of which reside in the Middle
East.

Apparently, the "you're either with us
or against us" line of the President has fallen on deaf
but wiser ears. It's time she sees she's the only one on
her side! - oh yes, and National Security Adviser Roilo
Golez.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: MARY LOUISE MALIG is a
sociologist and research associate of Focus on the Global
South, and moderates Focus' e-zine FOCUS ON THE
PHILIPPINES. She is currently working with Dr. Walden
Bello on a book about the political economy of the
Philippines, dealing with issues like the environment and
cronyism.